“Brooklyn, home of the greatest rappers
BIG comes first, then the Queen comes after”
– Lil Kim, “Lighters Up”
“This is the f*** Nicki Minaj segment of the show.”
– Lil Kim’s hypeman, Saturday night at Sonar in Batimore
Lil Kim is an iconic figure of hip hop’s history. Very troubled yet very successful, the “diamond cluster hustler” is legendary. Her blend of potent lyricism, frank sexuality and obsessive compulsive attraction to the accouterments of beauty, wealth and fame made her a feminist touch point and landmark artist in music history. A plethora of artists likely would not be able to exist as fully formed concepts without her, as she is absolutely worthy of her self proclaimed “Queen Bitch” status. However, it has been nearly fifteen years since her acclaimed and industry shattering debut Hard Core, and in 2010, Kim’s ability to fend off pretenders to her throne has finally been called into question. Queens emcee Nicki Minaj, who literally is Lil Kim for a brand new generation of teens and adults has stormed into hip hop with much the same level of success as the Queen Bee did in 1995. If at this event on Saturday night, you had the amazing opportunity to see a woman terrified of passing the torch, and though seemingly irrelevant, hard at work at maintaining her hard-earned place in the annals of time.
Openers for this show were Philadelphia electro-punk power belles (with a male drummer) Gang. Together since 2006, the group brings a tight melodic structure and adept songwriting to the table. A live performance in front of a growing throng of hip hop heads really isn’t the best place for them, but in the grand tradition of rock and roll, they succeeded in gaining support and an eventual truly appreciative ovation and co-sign from their most unique audience. Having played big events already as openers in their careers, namely for a Peaches and Amanda Blank double bill in Philly on Peaches’ most recent US tour, the band rocked hard, with slight electro sensibilities, providing a thrashing good time with an element of dance. Newest single “Why Can’t You Just Be” comes off like a poppier, electroclash take on Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out,” and in covering Rage Against the Machine’s “How Could I Just Kill A Man” and lead singer Amanda Damron screaming “F*** the police!” over the chorus, they were truly the surprise, and after Kim’s wild histrionics probably the best part of the evening.
Bronx, NY’s Poca the Papergirl was solid as well. The hip hop neophyte has had rousing success as of late, adding opening for Lil Kim to a rapidly growing list of opening spots including DC’s Amerie and spots at Washington’s Black Pride Weekend as well. Rocking the crowd in front of a very gay and bisexual friendly audience, the appeal came easy, and what Poca lacks from a production standpoint, she makes up for in a frank and disarming ability to connect with an audience. The next step for her is to move from telling really fun anecdotes then rapping over pre-existing popular Southern hip hop tracks like Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” to taking productions she can call her own and succeeding with them. The talent is there, but the package is not yet completely together for the emcee.
Headliner Lil Kim did her legacy a great disservice in just over one hour. The highlights were all the usual expected ones, as she hit the stage in belly dancer garb, the famously diminutive rapper flanked by two lithe backup dancers, a hypeman and a DJ and shimmied through a new opening number, then hit all of her high points. You forget at a point that she, alongside her mentor the Notorious B.I.G. was one of the most quotable emcees of the last decade of hip hop, and that her verses are vulgar, vitriolic and antagonistic paeans to gangsta and pimpstress style. All of the highlights from her debut, including “Crush on You” in neon day-glo wigs to match the infamous video, “Queen B****” and “Drugs,” alongside her multitude of hot singles were in tow and elicited riotous response. However, when Kim did a costume change into her fedora and sportcoat and decided to go “gangsta,” everything fell apart.
While changing, her hypeman announced this was the “F*** Nicki Minaj and F*** Drake” segment of the event. Nicki and Drake, rap’s two hottest and most name brand stars of the moment, were then ridiculed and riddled with lyrical bullets by Baltimore native Keys (aka “The Problem”), who has become an underground name of late with her shared hatred for Minaj. Kim’s stage show then included her verse in “All About the Benjamins” and a shout out to Sean Combs with a “Puffy should be ashamed of his fuckin’ self!” From there, moving on to ending the show with solid edits of other people’s material from her 2008 Ms GOAT mixtape, a less than stellar sung rendition of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “New York State of Mind,” and the most bizarre “We Are the World” tableau of all time of punk rockers, fashion voguers and hip hop hangers on seen in quite awhile partying to “Magic Stick,” the night finally ended.
Kim’s performance is a classic case of finding out who someone really is when the chips are down and they’re faced with adversity. Hip hop is not rock or soul music. As a relatively new art form, it’s truly difficult to achieve an “untouchable” legend status. A fifteen year career, especially in an over-flooded genre, really does not leave one as being beyond approach. Nicki Minaj has done just that, and while the jury is out as to whether or not she will eclipse, she has put the entire industry on alert. Her potent mix of mainstream trending style and media support makes her a hard juggernaut to stop. Lil Kim has decided to stand squarely in the path of Minaj’s artistic development, clearly without the mainstream support and media assistance she needs to even attempt making this a fair battle. Lil Kim’s an amazing and ultra important piece of hip hop history. This battle appears to be a losing one, and a pitiable one at that. Remember the greatness and excuse this digression.
Lil Kim is a legend and a hip hop soldier. Last night I watched this soldier fall on her sword.
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